lips like vodka
by ohheysugar
Summary: She will breathe life into him as many times needed. -SasuSaku
1. fighting you

**Disclaimer:** disclaimed, betch.  
**Dedication:** My lovely bfffl.  
**Notes:** HAVE A TASTE OF MY HORRIBLE WRITING.  
**Note two:** Uhm, there will be a part two… Maybe three… Maybe four… Maybe fifteen, I dunno. I'm not very good at canon.

**Title:** lips like vodka

* * *

_"Even after all this time, you're still annoying."_

_._

When she sits and breathes life into him, he is not grateful. He does not thank because he was ready to die. He was ready to leave this world, and pass onto the next.

But she sits and heals. And, he hates her for it.

She barely has chakra, she wasted it on healing the blond, then sending him off to fight. He doesn't blame her. He left for six years. Six. But, she still loves him, maybe not in the same way, but she does.

He does not doubt.

But, he does doubt that she will live if she pushes herself this hard. So, he grabs her wrist and mutters, "Stop,"

She cries. She cries for him, for Naruto, and herself. But mostly Team Seven, because they were doomed from the beginning weren't they? A monster, an avenger, and a happy girl. They didn't have a future as a family.

But, history repeats itself.

Maybe if they watched Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya. They are a parallel to Team Seven.

She retches her wrist out of his big hand, and begins healing again.

"I will not stop," she is determined. Her short, choppy, pale pink hair flows around her and her eyes set on the gaping wound in his side.

They can hear the roar of war. They can hear the walls of Konoha fall down. The screams of children, men, women echo through the forest.

They are both sick of it.

_(But, Sasuke-kun, you started the war. Bastard.)_

She feels the bile rise in her throat, and she removes her hands from his wound so she can throw up. She throws up under cooked ramen, and old sake.

She groans and wipes her mouth. But when she looks back at him, he is already wrapping new bindings around his torso.

"Stay here," he murmurs and stands. She is amazed. She is also frightened. Sasuke isn't the same person he was before.

He's taller, crueler, and smarter. He can kill someone in the blink of an eye. She heals. Her hands have not killed a person.

_(Oh, Sakura-chan. Don't lie. You almost killed little Sasuke, didn't you?)_

She watches him leap through trees, the rips in his black nin-shirt flowing in the wind. She is amazed because he looks as if he is not injured.

She is scared because she knows where he's going.

**lips like -**

_**vodka**_

When she finds him, he's watching. Watching their every move, like a cheetah. She wishes she can take him out of this world. Out of the world of ninjas, and bingo books, and blood, and-and-and, death.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispers, he does not move. He doesn't even breathe. However she notices his hand twitch.

_(Sakura. Remember? Remember when that hand was wrapped around your throat. Remember, at the bridge? Of course you do - you tried to kill Sasuke-kun. You bitch!)_

"Sakura," he starts and wraps his hand around his sword. "Get out of here."

"No," and before she can even process what is happening, he's dodging towards her, grabbing her by the arm, and pulling her away. She then hears the sailing of thousands of kunai.

He pulls her away, and sets her next to a tree. His black eyes watch over her head. She then notices that he really is taller then her. He looks down into her green eyes and glares.

"Stay the hell out of this Sakura," he snaps at her. He starts for the trees again, but she grabs him by the forearm.

"I have every right to be in this," she breathes out. This is her fight too, dammit!

"You tried to kill me, three times, and I still healed you," she gives a bitter laugh at the memory.

"You're still on that? You tried to kill me first,"

"Sas-"

"Just shut up," he rips his arm from her grasp. "Just stay the hell away from me."

She gasps, but does not - will not - shed tears.

Did he really trust her not to follow him? He must be crazy if he did.

_(Ah, little Sakura-chan. He's already insane, silly girl. Silly, foolish girl!)_

She jumps from tree to tree, trying to save the boy she loves - because that is all she can do. She will not let him slip into being insane.

(Itachi did this for you Sasuke! He did this so you could be happy! But, he will not stop until he has killed everyone in Konoha. But, you'll never be happy, Sasuke.

The Uchiha clan is dead! They aren't coming back. Just listen for once in your damn life!)

"Just listen!" She doesn't notice she screamed it. She doesn't even notice she's running out of chakra. She doesn't doesn't notice a figure chase after her. She doesn't notice a dark blob calling her name. All she notices is black spots, and crimson, like the blood of the Uchiha clan, eyes.

* * *

When she wakes up, Naruto is sitting on her right, while Kakashi is standing against the wall. Naruto is looming over her in an instant. He is crying and apologizing for not being there. For not helping her, and saving her.

"How long," she croaks, and stretches out her hands, pleading for a glass of water. Kakashi is the one to get it for her, Naruto is to busy wiping away the snot on her sleeve.

"Five months," he whispers, and the world goes still. Five months? She was just exhausted - but five months?

"Sasuke," she begins but can not finish because her voice cracks and she is going to cry.

"He's in jail," but then Naruto smile, bright and energetic, and Sakura's tears don't stream. "But, it's not that bad! He has this week to finish up, then he's home free. Well not exactly. He has chakra blockers, but those will only stay there until the Hokage can trust him. He also has to be watched twenty-four-seven."

Sakura nods and closes her eyes once more, because she is so tired. She just wants Sasuke to smile, and be happy. But, she doesn't know if she can believe in him anymore.

She's eighteen and tired, and just wants to sleep.

"Hey, Sakura-chan," Naruto smile is big, and he kisses her on the forhead. "I love you,"

"I love you, too."

She has no doubt that Naruto will be the one to fix things. He is the heart of Team Seven.


	2. loving you

**Disclaimer:** disclaimed, betch.  
**Dedication:** to nothing in particular.  
**Notes:** Here's part twoooo~

**Title:** lips like vodka

* * *

_"Sasuke-kun!"_

_"Sakura..."_

_._

.

He hates this more than anyone can imagine. He hates Konoha, the ninja's, the people. And, most of all he hates Team Seven. He hates how Naruto barges into his house, like he owns the place, and demands ramen. For some reason, though Sasuke always, always has some in his cabinets.

(_Ha, little Sasuke-kun. Getting soft are we?)_

He hates how Kakashi is always trying to be a father figure. Sasuke hates it, because _he is not my father, he will never be my father! Don't touch me, dammit!_

And, he hates her. She is stupid, impulsive, and stubborn. She never listens to him. She's always back talking, and _god dammit, when did she get this way? _He will never understand. He understands a lot of things: revenge, betraying, lying, hate, anger. But he will never understand the hurt that comes from being in love with someone. He won't understand how hurt she was when he left.

He does not care.

But, what he hates most of all is that they think they're family. They will never be family. He doesn't consider them friends, comrades, or acquaintances. They are strangers.

They do not know what he did with Orochimaru, he does not know what they did for the past six.

(_Looking for you, you asshole! Always searching for you, Sasuke-kun.)_

He hates this more than anyone can imagine.

**lips like -**

**_vodka_  
**

The first time they are left alone in a room together, it was one month after he's let out of jail. Hokage-_sama _assigned her to do his checkup, and Sakura wants to kill Tsunade

Sasuke looks impassive.

Sakura doesn't think Sasuke's mind is here, in the room. She thinks it's somewhere - maybe the Uchiha districts.

(_Silly, foolish Sakura-chan. Sasuke-kun lost him mind a long, long, long time ago.)_

She picks up the clipboard that's hanging on the end of the bed and calmly asks him to come with her. She weighs him and then puts it on the chart. She then asks him to stand against the door for his height.

Then she really struggles.

She has to stand up on her tiptoes, get really close, and try to look for the number.

"D'you need help," he asks, but not really. He never asks questions.

"No." she snaps and writes down his height: impossibly tall. She grumbles as she makes her way to her cabinets, to get out the equipment to take his blood pressure.

"Sit down," she says, trying to stay calm but her voice hitches.

When he sits down she wraps the band around his arm and waits. He stares at something over her shoulder, and she tries not to blush.

(_Sakura-chan? Does he still have the same effect on you? After six years, silly girl. Grow up!)_

When she's done taking his blood pressure, she asks for him to take off his shirt. He does, without the slightest hesitation, and she wonders if he's done this before. Been with other women, and slept with other women. She tries not to feel depressed. Sasuke was a missing-nin, an S-ranked criminal. He killed people - people from the Leaf.

It makes her hate him a little more.

(But, she can never hate him. Not when Sasuke was the love of her life - not when he's Sasuke and she's Sakura. Not when they've shared memories together. Not when - not when - not when he still has her heart.

That makes her hate him even more.)

She doesn't realize she's staring at something in space until he grunts and calls out her name. She looks over at him, and smiles sheepishly. Her hands find his toned stomach. She tries to fight off the blush, she'd seen so many stomachs. So many more toned bodies. She's a medic, for crying out loud!

Fingers glow green with chakra, and they fumble of his stomach. She can hear him sigh and can almost _feel _his glare. She refrains from blushing, she will not let him see her flustered and nervous.

She doesn't even notice that her hands are fully resting against his stomach. Nor does she realize that he's staring at her. That is until he's suddenly sitting up, and her hands fall from his stomach to his lap.

He's face is so close that she can smell the mint on his tongue. Her own green eyes cloud, and they feel so much heavier, and _is his face getting closer?_ Then suddenly his face is mere centimeters apart, and her lips part and her eyes close.

Except, she doesn't feel the pressure of his lips on hers, she feels his lips on her earlobes. His breath fans the curve of her ear, and him breathe, "You're pathetic."

Then he's off the bed, shoving on his shirt, and leaving the room.

Sakura sits.

And, waits.

And, waits.

And, waits.

Until her breath has tamed, and she is sure she is calm. She then makes a promise to herself -

she will not, ever, let Sasuke get the best of her.

* * *

On Wednesdays, when she gets off work early, she meets Naruto and Kakashi for ramen. Except now it's Sasuke, Kakashi, and Naruto. She tries not to sit next to Sasuke, but somehow she always ends up squished between Naruto and him at the stand.

Naruto looks over at her and smiles, sometimes petting her on the hand. Other times, smiling a reassuring smile, that makes her feel so much better. Sasuke doesn't talk, just eats, stares at something on the wall, gets up, and leaves. That makes her hate him more.

She just wants to be happy, because Sasuke's back. Most of all, she wants Naruto to be happy. She sometimes hears whispers from dark corners about Naruto. They're all about him bringing Sasuke back.

(_How can he bring him back -_

_He will never be Hokage -_

_He will burn in hell -_

_He's a monster -_

_Demon -_

_Why -_

_What's wrong with him?)_

She hates them. Naruto just wanted to bring his best friend back. He was keeping a promise of a lifetime. She sometimes thinks this is her fault. Maybe if she never made him promise to bring Sasuke back, he wouldn't be going through this trouble.

But, somewhere in the back of her mind, she knows that's not true. She knows that Naruto would have brought him back anyway. She still cries. This time not for herself - but for Naruto.

* * *

When they train, it's rough, and she does not hold back. When she punches him, and he goes flying through the trees, he looks surprised. That is until his mask is back on, and he whips the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He crouches, and she runs towards him. They are still awkward, and weird. But, Sakura will try, and restore the friendship they once had. Sasuke, well Sasuke will let her.

But for now, they will train. He will activate his Sharigan, which she thrives for, and he will block and fight. She will try to beat him - even though she knows it will be near impossible.

They will fight and try to restore what they once had.

After they spar they lay in the grass, sweating and panting. Sakura laughs and smiles, reaches her small hands up and grabs the sun.

"Everything will be okay," she says.

Sasuke swallows and believes.

* * *

One night, when she exits the hospital and finds Sasuke waiting for her, she smiles. It's small, hopeful, and everything she has. She's tired. That's what they say. But she's not tired from healing, she's tired emotionally. She just wants Sasuke to be happy. Wants him to smile, but that will take a long, long time. For now she will settle for his half-smirks and grunts.

When he walks her home, she stops and turns to him.

"Why are you doing this?" Her green eyes glow, but her lips stay down. He shrugs, and stares ahead.

"Do you trust me," she knows the answer, this is no question.

"It's okay," she whispers small, sad smile back. "I love you, but I don't trust you, Sasuke-kun."

"That's okay, too," he says, his voice is still low, and she has to strain her hearing. She looks up into his black orbs.

She wishes.

* * *

Somewhere between training, ramen, and walking each other home, they cross the line. The fine line of teammates and something more. It starts with brushes against the shoulder, lingering when healing, and staring.

Then it becomes grabbing each other when it's unnecessary. Spending the night at each other houses. And kisses on the cheek.

The last one is Sakura's doing.

But she doesn't know what _this _is anymore. She wants to believe that it's Sasuke ways of showing affection, but she will not assume. She can only hope. Because with Sasuke that's all you can really do.

* * *

One day when they're laying on the grass side by side, her hand finds his. She stops breathing and intertwines their fingers. Her pink hair fans around her, and her green eyes stare into his.

"I think," he starts, his voice low and raspy. "I think, I can love you. If you show me how."

Sakura swallows and presses her lips to his.


End file.
